Odell Beckham Jr. sees a bright future for Elijah Moore
The positive reviews for Elijah Moore continue to come in droves – and perhaps none of them have stemmed from a more prestigious source than this one.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. recently raved about Moore’s potential in an Instagram comment.
.@obj sees greatness in @e_moore03 👀 pic.twitter.com/dpS79z62Ey
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) August 10, 2021
“He’s the one!!! Lol I swear just wait, he kno Shxt I didn’t kno at tht age… mark my words ! Maybe be all pro as a rookie,” Beckham comments.
Achieving All-Pro status as a rookie would be quite the feat for the 22-year-old Mississippi product. The last rookie wide receiver to garner first-team All-Pro honors in his debut season was a kid from Marshall named Randy Moss, who racked up 1,313 receiving yards and a league-high 17 receiving touchdowns in 1998.
Six rookie wideouts have earned first-team All-Pro recognition as returners – Steve Smith (2001), Jerome Mathis (2005), Cordarrelle Patterson (2013), Tyler Lockett (2015), Tyreek Hill (2016), Deonte Harris (2019) – but Moss is the last one to crack the squad for his efforts as a pass-catcher.
In 2020, Vikings rookie Justin Jefferson (an LSU star like Beckham) was named a second-team All-Pro. He became the first rookie wide receiver since Moss to make either level of the All-Pro team.
Moore has been consistently shredding Jets defensive backs all offseason, establishing himself as a standout early in OTAs and carrying that momentum all the way through two weeks of training camp.
Notably, Moore has recorded a litany of contested catches against second-year cornerback Bryce Hall, whose tight coverage against the speedy rookie has helped him forge an impressive training camp of his own.
Moore is coming off of a robust 2020 season in which he averaged 149.1 receiving yards per game over eight appearances, leading the FBS. That is the best average ever recorded by a Power-5 prospect in his final season before entering the NFL.
To boot, Moore’s total of 1,193 receiving yards is the best total recorded through eight games in SEC history.
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Beckham is looking to put together a bounce-back season after a tumultuous 2020 campaign. He was averaging a career-low 53.2 receiving yards per game through six weeks before he tore his ACL in Week 7, ending his season.
With a career average of 83.3 receiving yards per game, Beckham still ranks fifth on the NFL’s all-time list among qualifiers. His average of 155.0 yards per game over two contests against the Jets is his best against any team in the league.
Beckham’s Browns and Moore’s Jets will not meet in the 2021 regular season, but they are scheduled to go head-to-head in the 2022 season when the NFL scheduling rotation pits the AFC North against the AFC East.